Discover Florida’s Surprising Air Quality Ranking Among U.S. States

ORLANDO, Fla. – U.S. News & World Report has unveiled its annual rankings, spotlighting the states with the best and worst air and water quality across the United States.

Researchers compiled the report using data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), focusing on two critical factors:

• Drinking Water Quality — Assessed by tallying violation points accumulated over a five-year period by public water systems, measured per 1,000 customers.

• Air Quality — Determined by the population-weighted average of county-level data, indicating the number of days the Air Quality Index did not achieve a ‘good’ rating.

Leading the nation in both air and water quality is Hawaii, while Florida also ranks commendably in these categories.

In fact, Florida scored at No. 6 overall — No. 16 for air quality, and No. 13 for drinking water quality.

That said, some areas of the state have better quality than others. For example, the American Lung Association lists in its 2025 “State of the Air” report that only the following counties scored an “A.”

• Alachua

• Baker

• Bay

• Brevard

• Broward

• Collier

• Columbia

• Flagler

• Holmes

• Indian River

• Lake

• Leon

• Liberty

• Manatee

• Martin

• Okaloosa

• Osceola

• Palm Beach

• Pasco

• Santa Rosa

• Sarasota

• Seminole

• St. Lucie

• Volusia

• Wakulla

While the report doesn’t account for every county due to limited data, only one area of the state received the lowest “C” grade: Hillsborough County, which reportedly had four orange days on record.

Meanwhile, the rest of U.S. News & World’s report is as follows: